


Smile

by RayeoftheSunshine



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, grahatober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26845414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayeoftheSunshine/pseuds/RayeoftheSunshine
Summary: The Warrior of Light makes it easy for G'raha to smile. For grahatober, prompt 1: smile
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light
Kudos: 11





	Smile

The Warrior of Light had a beautiful smile. 

This was not a surprise, because of course a hero would have such a smile. But it still made G’raha’s heart skip a beat the first time her face lit up and she smiled from ear to ear. He found himself smiling back, delighted. When he did, her ears perked up and she laughed. “Oh! You’re a charmer, aren’t you, G’raha? With a smile like that, you must be!”

He bowed dramatically, grinning now. “Ah, if only the librarians at the Studium found me charming, but they did not. If anything, they would run in the opposite direction!”

It made her laugh again and he thought that it would be only too easy to keep smiling around her. With a friend like her, his face would start to hurt, he realized, but he didn’t mind. After all the years of nothing but old, dusty tomes and scrolls for company, and silent libraries full of secrets being his only surroundings, aching cheeks and a sore stomach would be a fair price to pay. Moonflower was worth it.

“For someone so smart,” she said one day, as she watched him catalogue his findings among the rubble that was the Eight Sentinels, “you really don’t act like a scholar.”

He looked over his shoulder. “What do scholars act like?” he asked.

She smiled, and it was that teasing, affectionate smile she had when her eyes turned to slits and her lips pulled back. “Well, they definitely don’t _leap off_ a platform like you did, when you finally introduced yourself!”

G’raha laughed. “But that’s the _only_ way to do it, Moonflower! How else does one make an entrance?”

“By walking through the door like a normal person!” She covered her mouth as she laughed too. “Look, apparently I’m the hero around here, and not even _I_ jump off platforms to introduce myself.”

“Ah, ah,” he countered, fully turning around and wagging a finger at her. “Perhaps not to introduce yourself, but I have seen you skipping stairs and jumping off railings instead, so you cannot trick me.”

Her ears wiggled and her eyes flickered away. “Oh no, you caught me! I didn’t think anyone had noticed.”

“It would have been difficult to miss the thuds,” he said, and turned back to his cataloguing. 

“My point still stands, G’raha,” she huffed, but he could still hear the smile in her voice. “You don’t act like any other scholar I’ve met.”

He hummed and ran his fingers along marks in the rock. _Not carvings, only made by time, or from the blast._ “What am I supposed to act like, then?”

“Not _supposed to_ ,” she corrected immediately. “I like you just the way you are. If that means that you’re different, so be it.”

G’raha liked her plenty before, but to hear her say she liked him as he was warmed his heart. Krile was the same, even if she did tease him sometimes for his antics. “You still haven’t answered the question,” he said, if only to make conversation and hide his smile.

“I was getting there, you overeager chocobo,” she laughed, and he heard her feet banging against the stump of the Sentinel she’d chosen to sit on. “Scholars generally seem to act more like Urianger. Stately, dignified, and spouting out a river of knowledge in a single breath. But you’re so much more… excitable!”

“I think you need to meet more scholars than Urianger,” he said, grinning at her for a moment as he picked up another piece of rubble. 

She made a noise of protest and her feet stopped banging against stone. “I _have_! The scholars at the Observatorium in Coerthas were the same! And even dear Alphinaud acts more like them than you do.”

 _“Dear Alphinaud” is a first. I don’t think anyone else would get away with calling him that, especially in his hearing range._ “That just means I’ve gone farther round the bend than they have.” He crouched down to study the carvings that were on this piece more closely. He smirked when he heard her laugh and protest again.

“G’raha, you’re so… you really make me laugh.”

“I aim to please, Princess,” he answered absentmindedly, moving on to another section. “And before you try offering to help, you have already done your part by clearing the labyrinth for us. This is the part where I work, and you sit there impatiently.”

Moonflower got to her feet and followed him, sitting down so that she could watch him work. She was curious and liked to watch NOAH and the Sons of Saint Coinach do their studying, and most of the time she managed to stay out of the way. Most of the time. She was rather in his way now and he didn’t know how to tell her when she was smiling so curiously and hopefully at him like that.

“ _Now_ who’s an overeager chocobo?” he teased, and reached around her for a portion of a stone sword, which had a gem still intact. This had a lot more information he could use; he could see Allagan writing carved into the gem.

He was so focused on copying down the writing and translating it, that he didn’t notice Moonflower had started humming and he subconsciously joined in. When he was about to sing, he looked up to see his friend happily humming as she twisted flowers together. She never sang, not that he could remember, but she liked to hum while she watched them work. 

_Roses are red, dilly, dilly_

_Violets are blue_

_Because you love me, dilly, dilly_

_I will love you_

“Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly,” he sang, finishing the last verse, “and the lambs play; we shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm’s way.”

Her ears shot up in surprise and she blushed. “Oh, I’m sorry, G’raha, I didn’t mean to distract you.”

He smiled, which let her relax again. “It’s all right. I like singing while I work sometimes. It’s an old Gridanian song, no?”

She nodded. “My mother taught me. I don’t sing though. Not… not in front of _people_. And _especially_ not in front of you!”

“Whyever not?” he asked, his smile slipping off his face. “What did I do?”

“You have an angelic voice!” she blurted. “I couldn’t sing in front of you, that would be too embarrassing!” Then her voice turned to laughter as he pouted and leaned closer. “No, stop! Not the kitten eyes, they won’t work.” They fell backwards and she squealed, only to roll away and get to her feet.

G’raha climbed to his feet as well and gave chase, the pair of them laughing. They were, perhaps, too old to be playing these kinds of games, but as he caught hold of her and they tried breathing through their giggles, he found he enjoyed it. It was nice to have a reason to smile and laugh, and Moonflower gave him plenty.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried uploading this yesterday and ao3 wouldn't let me, rip. Well, here I am with another challenge. I thought I was taking a break after the intense challenge that was ffxivwrite in September, but then a couple days later, this prompt list appeared. I had to take part! But I also knew I needed a few more days of rest before I started, which was definitely a good idea (I wrote 1.5 stories in one day for this challenge as a result). I am going to try writing every single prompt before October ends, but we'll see how that goes!
> 
> For the challenge, I plan on writing about a few relationships I haven't before, like with Krile, NOAH, the Ironworks crew in the future, and the people of the Crystarium. Of course there will also be wolexarch, G'raha&Lyna, G'raha&Leveilleur twins, and throwing in my wolexarch babies for good measure. 
> 
> You probably recognize the song from Cinderella (2015). I fell in love with this traditional song, and thought it would be a perfect fit for a Gridanian lullaby!


End file.
